Welcome back to this exciting new year as part of RSU 10. For those who don't know me, I'm the MLTI regional mentor for Western Maine Learning through a federal IID grant. Learn more here.

The goals of Western Maine Learning are to inspire teachers, engage students, and enrich teaching in order to improve student performance by introducing learning models and strategies empowered by the use of digital technology. The Memorandum of Understanding attached below offers a guideline for this work. The model calls for the encouragement of professional learning communities in order to develop capacity related to school academic goals over an extended period of time.

I would like to offer two 30-hour professional learning communities in the Western Foothills District, one to be in Buckfield and the other in Dixfield, open to all educators in RSU #10 for recertification points. We will choose from these modules and others, connecting with classroom practice as we go along. There will be individual and/or group final projects that apply to needs in your classroom or building.

Tentatively there will be 10 3-hour sessions from 3:30 - 6:30 on Wednesdays for each PLC. It is the participants responsibility to check with their certification committee to see if their recertification plan includes the necessary goals in order to have their points count. If not, an amendment might be in order. Attendance is important, but make-ups or optional arrangements can be arranged for conflicts in scheduling that busy teachers might have in the real world.

Let me know if you are interested in either the Buckfield or Dixfield PLC so that I can send you the date and place of our first meeting.

Do feel free to email me any questions you might have at jburkemaine@gmail.com or Jim Burke on the FirstClass system. My phone number is 674-2006.

Warm regards,

Jim